Hallmark Channel
Hallmark Channel’s latest original movie is new to the channel but has been available to stream on Hallmark Movies Now (now renamed Hallmark+) since the end of August. So if you’re subscribed, you may have already seen it but for most viewers it will probably be new to them. This latest Hallmark original is titled The Heiress and the Handyman, and stars network regulars Jodie Sweetin (six movies) and Corey Sevier (at least nine movie and one TV series), with Ann Pirvu (three movies) and Eve Crawford (three movies).
The story follows hotel heiress June Waltshire (Sweetin), who while on vacation in Greece is called back to the states … something she never does during the Fall season. But this is serious — she’s lost everything. Handed a flip phone and the keys to her grandfather’s old town car, June leaves her business manager’s office with just the luggage she arrived with but is also given a necklace that her aunt left her. A necklace with a key. Trying to pawn her clothing, she is made an offer for the necklace but she decides to head to the bank to see if it opens a safety deposit box … and it does. Inside is the deed to her aunt’s lovely farmhouse in Greenville (we can assume it’s South Carolina, but the state is never really specified). Upon her arrival, she is surprised to find a man named Bart (Sevier) in the house and assumes he’s the handyman. He’s the neighbor, just there because he promised he’d look after the place until some family arrived.
June and Bart seem to have a tiny spark almost immediately, and June soon meets Bart’s sister Nina who fills her in on all the gossip. Heading into town for supplies with Bart, June also meets Dotty Cartwright (Crawford), a snippy woman who clearly has disdain for June’s aunt, a less-than-friendly rivalry had brewed between them over who had the best apple pie at the county fair and who collected the most blue ribbons. Feeling a touch offended and wanting to defend her aunt’s honor, June decides she’s going to enter not only the pie baking contest, but all the other ones as well including flower arranging and livestock (her aunt’s pig Julian was never up to snuff to compete as a show pig but June hopes she can turn him into a silk purse, so to speak). There’s just one problem — June has never done anything for herself, and that includes baking. But Nina shows her the old recipe box with the famous apple pie recipe card and June gets to work. It takes her several tries but she finally gets one that appears worthy of a contest and she places in the window to cool overnight. But a loud crash at two in the morning awakens June to find her pie upside-down on the floor. And a set of footprints outside the window that look suspiciously like the shoes Dotty wears. Can she get another pie baked and cooled in time for the fair? Will the sparks between June and Bart ignite into something more? Will June ever reclaim her fortune? And will June discover more family secrets in Greenville? I’ve posed these questions, so you can assume they will be answered … but not here!
The Heiress and the Handyman — a title that actually makes no sense since Bart isn’t a handyman — is a harmless piece of fluff with some lovely locations in Ontario standing in for Greenville. It’s one of those romanticized small towns that you only see in movies or on TV, but it sure helps draw you into the story. Sweetin is fine as June, but her performance is almost overshadowed by her terrible wig that is over-sprayed in the opening scenes and seems to just be wilting as the movie goes on. But she’s sweet, she’s bubbly and, gosh darn it, you want her to bake that pie and stick it to Dotty (you also can’t help but root for Julian the pig as well). Later in the movie when she invites Bart on a date and reveals some big news to him, you actually feel your heart drop a bit for her when his reaction is less than positive, but you still want to see her make things work with him. It is a good performance but … that wig (or is it extensions?).
Corey Sevier is also good. He has to at first put up with her assumption that he’s ‘the help’ but he quickly becomes that good neighbor who tries to help June find her footing in town, and he encourages her to go for it with the contests at the fair. He also makes us feel that Bart is firmly rooted in Greenville, that his home is where he wants to be and never intends to leave, but Sevier also allows us to see just a bit that even as he tries to deny it, Bart is developing feelings for June. But can these people from two different worlds make it?
Ann Pirvu is pretty delightful as Nina. She seems really thrilled to have a new best girlfriend in town, and she’s very excited to do some digging into June’s family history in town. Eve Crawford plays Dotty as the perfect old biddy, making us root for June to whoop her at the fair. But there’s also more to Dotty than meets the eye, which is revealed later and helps explain why she’s so hard on June.
At less than 90-minutes the story has to fly along rather quickly, and the final scene is one of those ‘did I miss something between the last scene and this one’ because things happen and you’re left scratching your head as to how Nina knew how what happened was going to happen because there would have been a whole lot of people just standing around if events didn’t unfold as they do. Other than that, The Heiress and the Handyman is another Hallmark film that breaks away from the usual template, and that at least makes it worth a watch. The beautiful cinematography and charming performances also help as well. Not bad, not great, but cozily in-between.
The Heiress and the Handyman has a run time of 1 hour 24 minutes, and is rated TV-G.
Hallmark Channel
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